Raspberries In A Wheat Beer

[craig maher]

Craig,

Did you boil the berries before adding them to the secondary, or just add them straight from the package? If so, how long did you boil them for?

Cheers,
Michael

Michael,

The berries were not boiled - just straight from the pack (frozen) into the fermenter and racked the beer onto the berries

Cheers,

Craig

 

[Mercs Own]

Michael,

The berries were not boiled - just straight from the pack (frozen) into the fermenter and racked the beer onto the berries

Cheers,

Craig

If you put your fruit in the boil you will get pectin haze in your beer. Dont actually know what that looks like as I never put my peach juice into the boil only into the fermenter. I also use depectinized fruit juice.

Peach in a Heffe would be nice also.

 

[Blackfish]

If you put your fruit in the boil you will get pectin haze in your beer. Dont actually know what that looks like as I never put my peach juice into the boil only into the fermenter. I also use depectinized fruit juice.

Peach in a Heffe would be nice also.

Hey, how about canned fruit in beer? Peaches or maybe apricots (mmm tangy ) They are cooked though, and have lots of sugar added. Perhaps the fruit in "natural juice" variety. Has anyone tried that? I might be keen if there isn't a reason not to....

FHG

 

[Mercs Own]

Hey, how about canned fruit in beer? Peaches or maybe apricots (mmm tangy ) They are cooked though, and have lots of sugar added. Perhaps the fruit in "natural juice" variety. Has anyone tried that? I might be keen if there isn't a reason not to....

FHG

I dont see a reason why you couldnt give it a go except that gauging the fermentables and therefore the correct co2 volume in the bottle could be tricky. My last Peach Ale brew over gassed itself in the bottle to the point where I had to take the remaining cases off the market - I assume it was the peach juice. It could also have been a miscalculation on my part but I would rather blame the peach juice.

 

[petesbrew]

I dont see a reason why you couldnt give it a go except that gauging the fermentables and therefore the correct co2 volume in the bottle could be tricky. My last Peach Ale brew over gassed itself in the bottle to the point where I had to take the remaining cases off the market - I assume it was the peach juice. It could also have been a miscalculation on my part but I would rather blame the peach juice.

Merc, if you ever have problems getting rid of that overgassed peach ale, I'll be more than happy to assist.

Actually my raspberry blonde last year had lots of blended pulp in the bottles, and over a 9 month period they must've kept fermenting, with the final bottles opened spraying pink beer everywhere.
edit:seeing as we're adding pics, here's mine

 

[Ross]

Here's a pic of my Blackberry weizen. i used Bramling X for the hops, which worked great. The frozen fruit was simply defrosted & added at end of ferment.



Colour was a beautiful purple, that doesn't quite come out in the pic, though there's a hint of it in the head.

Blackberry hefe

Amount Item Type % or IBU
2.50 kg Wheat Malt, Malt Craft (Joe White) (3.5 EBC) Grain 53.2 %
1.70 kg Pale Malt, Galaxy (Barrett Burston) (3.0 EBC) Grain 36.2 %
0.50 kg Munich Malt 1 (17.7 EBC) Grain 10.6 %
10.00 gm Bramling Cross [8.60%] (60 min) Hops 8.5 IBU
20.00 gm Bramling Cross [8.60%] (10 min) Hops 6.2 IBU
1.00 tsp Table Salt (Boil 90.0 min) Misc
2.00 kg Blackberries (Secondary 7.0 days) Misc
1 Pkgs Hefeweizen Ale (White Labs #WLP300) Yeast-Wheat

Est Original Gravity: 1.048 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.048 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.7 %
Bitterness: 14.7 IBU Calories: 449 cal/l
Est Color: 7.2 EBC Color: Color

 

[craig maher]

Here's a pic of my Blackberry weizen. i used Bramling X for the hops, which worked great. The frozen fruit was simply defrosted & added at end of ferment.

View attachment 13788

Colour was a beautiful purple, that doesn't quite come out in the pic, though there's a hint of it in the head.

Blackberry hefe

Amount Item Type % or IBU
2.50 kg Wheat Malt, Malt Craft (Joe White) (3.5 EBC) Grain 53.2 %
1.70 kg Pale Malt, Galaxy (Barrett Burston) (3.0 EBC) Grain 36.2 %
0.50 kg Munich Malt 1 (17.7 EBC) Grain 10.6 %
10.00 gm Bramling Cross [8.60%] (60 min) Hops 8.5 IBU
20.00 gm Bramling Cross [8.60%] (10 min) Hops 6.2 IBU
1.00 tsp Table Salt (Boil 90.0 min) Misc
2.00 kg Blackberries (Secondary 7.0 days) Misc
1 Pkgs Hefeweizen Ale (White Labs #WLP300) Yeast-Wheat

Est Original Gravity: 1.048 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.048 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.7 %
Bitterness: 14.7 IBU Calories: 449 cal/l
Est Color: 7.2 EBC Color: Color

Looks and sounds beautiful Ross :beerbang:
Love the glass too!!

Cheers,

Craig

 

[TidalPete]

Ross.

Looks great. :beerbang: I will have to give this a go.
That bit of wood(?) in the dam half way up the RHS of that really nice glass could well be the head of our old mate George's cousin Georgina who moved down to SE Qld a short while ago seeking a lifestyle change? They tell me she is partial to Poms? Will you be checking out my dam info?

Strawberries are plentiful up here. Has anyone tried them in a wheat??

:beer:

 

[JasonY]

I'm in berry country for the next three years so plan on doing a bit of experimenting with the fresh (& cheap!) berries around here. Just need to get the brewery a bit more organised before I get into non- standard beers.

Picked a whole bucket of raspberries on the w/end for $9, just need a bigger freezer and I can go nuts stocking up

 

[bconnery]

Pete,

Ive done a couple of strawberry wheats. I would impart the following advice, take it as gospel or with a pinch of salt

2.5kg for a 22L batch, minimum. More is better. Strawberries aren't as intense a flavour so you need more.

Riper is good. I used a jamming box from a grower one year then didn't and the first one was way better.

The amounts really depend on what you want fruit character wise. A strong strawberry flavour, bump them up to 5 or more kilos. A strawberry element 2.5-4kgs.

The much maligned K97 dried makes a good fruit wheat yeast, but one of the liquids would work fine.

Nice noble hops, with hallertau or tettnang my preferences...Bittered just high enough to balance the fruitiness, but still pretty low - 20IBUs at the outside.

I just mashed them up and mixed them with a little boiling water but next time I'll probably wash freeze and then defrost in the microwave as per the rasberries...

 

[TidalPete]

Pete,

Ive done a couple of strawberry wheats. I would impart the following advice, take it as gospel or with a pinch of salt

2.5kg for a 22L batch, minimum. More is better. Strawberries aren't as intense a flavour so you need more.

Riper is good. I used a jamming box from a grower one year then didn't and the first one was way better.

The amounts really depend on what you want fruit character wise. A strong strawberry flavour, bump them up to 5 or more kilos. A strawberry element 2.5-4kgs.

The much maligned K97 dried makes a good fruit wheat yeast, but one of the liquids would work fine.

Nice noble hops, with Hallertau or Tettnang my preferences...Bittered just high enough to balance the fruitiness, but still pretty low - 20IBUs at the outside.

I just mashed them up and mixed them with a little boiling water but next time I'll probably wash freeze and then defrost in the microwave as per the rasberries...

Thanks for that mate. :beerbang:
I am thinking along the lines of a strawberry Belgian here & was thinking a Belgian Wit yeast with hops similar to your recommendation but will look up the K97.
Thinking of a trip to my favourite strawberry farm soon for a few kilos of their rejects (bruised, marked, etc) and look forward to following up your advice & the advice of others interested in this.
Can you explain a jamming box to me? Sounds like a kind of compressing thingy?
See you at the Swap.

:beer:

 

[bconnery]

Thanks for that mate. :beerbang:
I am thinking along the lines of a strawberry Belgian here & was thinking a Belgian Wit yeast with hops similar to your recommendation but will look up the K97.
Thinking of a trip to my favourite strawberry farm soon for a few kilos of their rejects (bruised, marked, etc) and look forward to following up your advice & the advice of others interested in this.
Can you explain a jamming box to me? Sounds like a kind of compressing thingy?
See you at the Swap.

:beer:

Nothing so complex Pete. A jamming box is just a box of strawberries for jamming, or a few kilos of rejects...I just call it that cause the guys where I buy them do...

A belgian wit with strawberries sounds like a good idea to me. The k97, fermented warm, gives a nice suit of mellow fruitiness, kind of wheat without the banana/clove but belgian wit with that tartness would be very nice I think...

 

[TidalPete]

Nothing so complex Pete. A jamming box is just a box of strawberries for jamming, or a few kilos of rejects...I just call it that cause the guys where I buy them do...

A belgian wit with strawberries sounds like a good idea to me. The k97, fermented warm, gives a nice suit of mellow fruitiness, kind of wheat without the banana/clove but belgian wit with that tartness would be very nice I think...

Sounds good doesn't it Ben. Still got a little research to do as it is still only winter ATM. Plenty of time to get those Belgian yeast maximum temps yet.

:beer:

 

[Muggus]

Ooo good topic!

I made a batch of Blueberry Hefeweizen a few months back. Bottled it and just waiting for a suitable occasion to crack open a bottle because I ended up with 15 x 330ml bottles of the stuff because of the thick sediment. :huh:

I basically racked off 7 litres of a strong hefeweizen (7.7%) I brewed onto 900g of frozen blueberries. I'd thawed them out in the fridge over night and gave them a good rinse with hot water and crushed them before adding them into an empty fermenter.

Haven't tried an official sample, but going by the final gravity sample the colour is a slightly hazy pale purple colour and the blueberry flavour is quite subtle compared to the banana/clove flavours from the hefeweizen base. But we'll have to see once I crack open a bottle with some carbonation and maturation behind it.

 

[bconnery]

Tasted my mixed berry hefe last night while brewing.

Fantastic pink colour, even the head has a tinge of pink.

Taste is almost all tart berry with just a hint of the fruity wheat coming through.

Was fermented a little cooler so the banana etc flavours aren't really underneath but I think it has worked very well.

I'll try and remember to add a photo.

Very simple beer, will do it again some time, either with berries or different fruit. I think this could be my fruit beer base for good now...I might experiment with a little crystal or other specialty grain for depth or something to counteract the dryness a little, but not much.

60/40 wheat/pils, hallertau or other noble hops, WLP300 yeast... 1.3kgs frozen berries in secondary...

 

[craig maher]

60/40 wheat/pils, hallertau or other noble hops, WLP300 yeast... 1.3kgs frozen berries in secondary...

Sounds lovely BC - out of curiosity how many IBU?

Cheers,

Craig

 

[glennheinzel]

K+K Raspberry wheat.

* TCB Wals Wheat 1.7kg
* Liquid wheat malt 1.5kg
* 2 tins of raspberry in syrup (400g each). Frozen and then blended before adding to primary.
* K97 yeast added to primary
* White Labs Hefeweisen IV added the day after K97 was pitched (I didn't want the clove taste to overpower, but my knowledge of yeast has come a long way since I made this beer).
* Racked to secondary after 6 days.
* 1 kg of frozen whole raspberries added to secondary.
* secondary was lagered at 2.5 degrees celcius (where is that thread on creating the celcius symbol when you need it).
* OG 1.065. FG 1.016.

Pictured is the beer (yeast stirred in) after 8 months in the bottle. I don't think I'll bother reposting the same pix in the "what are you drinking thread". It tastes great!

Using a Belgian wit yeast on a similar brew sounds great. I might have to add it to my list of brews to do...

 

[sqyre]

I've got a wheat in the fermenter at the moment and was seriously thinking about adding some fruit to the secondary...but i'm struggling to find some cheap berries of some sort..



Has anyone ever tried using jam? :blink:



the thought occured to me the other day while making the youngins sandwiches.

Sqyre...

 

[troydo]

fozen berries from woolies sounds like what others have used ... they are only a few bucks...

 

[bconnery]

Sounds lovely BC - out of curiosity how many IBU?

Cheers,

Craig

Have to confirm but it wasn't many, 15-20 I think